A railroad car that solves many of the problems of the prior art in hauling large trucks is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,608. The car is completely enclosed making it difficult for a casual vandal to even ascertain whether or not it is hauling trucks. A jack traveling on tracks along the bed of the enclosed railroad car is used to pick up by its front axle the front of each truck loaded in succession to back it into position with its front end raised and its frame tucked under the front end of the preceding truck.
Raised platforms on the sides of the railroad car bed provide a channel between them to accommodate the traveling jack, but that significantly decreases the headroom of the railroad car which may be needed for clearance over the cabs of the trucks being loaded. Considering that this railroad car of extraordinary height is built with the roof already as high as possible for the standard height of overpasses, tunnels, and the like, the use of raised platforms is undesirable.
Longitudinally movable seats for the front wheels of the trucks hauled eliminate the need for temporary, usually makeshift, devices of the prior art to hold in a raised position the front end of each truck loaded. The wheel platforms disclosed in the aforesaid patent hang vertically while stowed until a truck being loaded is in proper position. Then they are moved longitudinally along beams secured to the sides of the railroad car into position along side of the truck's front wheels and pivoted up into a horizontal position under the front wheels. There they are secured in a horizontal position by diagonal arms (struts). The problem with that arrangement for front wheel seats is that they are so heavy that they require two persons to move and position each one safely.